Keep the Jacket
by jazziisms
Summary: After a series of misunderstandings and hurt feelings, Jean shows up at Annie's house to apologize. Modern AU. Jeanani. Oneshot.


I was watching AOT:JH when I suddenly got inspiration to write modern!Jeanani being all cute.

* * *

"Okay...you can do this…" Jean told himself as he stood on the porch of the Leonhardt household. "Just go in there and tell her how you feel and leave. Wait, no. That's a bad idea. Don't leave. You'll look like a douche. Hell, you already _are_ one anyway…"

 _You practically screwed up the only chance you had with her. Great job, Kirstein._

The door opened, but the person standing behind it wasn't short and blue-eyed. Instead, it was a man with darker hair and brown eyes, a big nose, and, now that Jean was thinking about it, he was kinda shaped like a pear.

"Can I help you, son?" he said, gaze narrowing slightly in suspicion.

Oh shit. It was her dad. This was _Annie Leonhardt's freakin' dad._

"O-Oh! Uh...sorry, sir. Is Annie here?"

"Who's asking?"

"U-Um, right! Jean Kirstein, sir." This was not going well, this is not going well, this is going _straight down the toilet_ \- "I'm - I go to school with your daughter. We're friends."

"Huh…" Mr. Leonhardt sized the nervous teenager up, silent for the longest beat of Jean's life before their gazes met again. "You're not friends with that _Jaeger_ kid, are ya?"

So he knew Eren somehow. And knowing Eren, he probably did something stupid and got on Mr. Kirstein's bad side. Typical.

Jean snorted. "Can't stand 'em."

Okay, so he wasn't lying but at the same time he and Eren had that _love/hate_ thing and -

"Me neither." Mr. Leonhardt leaned back into the house. "Annie! There's a _Jean Kirstein_ here to see you. He says you two know each other."

And there she was.

His heart was ready to burst from his chest, and the fact that her dad was standing right next to her was making him the elephant of the room. All Jean wanted to do was yank Annie forward and crush her to his chest, tell her that he was an idiot, tell her that he didn't deserve her, tell her that he wanted nothing more than to hold her and kiss her and -

"Jean," she said, and _God_ the way she pronounced his name was so smooth and correct and _magical_ and _everything_ \- "what are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you."

And by the sound of his tone, thank goodness, Annie picked up on the signal and slipped outside, passing her father, and closed the door behind him. Jean tried not to think too much about the look of disapproval from the man and turned his back to the door, following Annie quietly. She was leading him to the backyard, it seemed. Out of sight. Out of earshot.

"About what?" she said finally, turning around to face him. Like him, she was still in uniform from school, but lacked her sweater and hoodie. It was pretty cool outside. She would get cold quickly.

"Just…" Jean wracked his brain for the right thing to say, only to be distracted mid-thought as Annie began rubbing her arms in a - what she probably _thought_ was - subtle way. "I...Hang on." He slipped out of his school jacket and dared himself to come closer, wrapping it around her shoulders.

His touch lingered on her arms.

His eyes lingered on hers.

His body lingered, close to hers.

"Jean…" Annie looked up at him in confusion, her gaze narrowing from how close their faces were. "What are you…?"

"Let me say this before I chicken out, 'kay?" Jean inhaled deeply with uncertainty, and Annie pressed her lips together, nodding her head.

The young man's gaze softened.

"I'm sorry. For, yanno, avoiding you and acting like a jerk. I _was_ a jerk. I used to care so much about my reputation -" Snorts. _What_ reputation, Kirstein? "- that I didn't care about who I was hurting in the process. The last person I wanted to hurt was you. And…" Jean released his grip on her and took a step back. He was already overstepping his boundaries already. "if you never wanna speak to me again, I'll understand. You can...You can punch me if you'd like."

Annie was quiet, but her gaze had lowered from his face; like she was deep in thought about something. Oh no. She was going to kick him instead, wasn't she? Goodbye world. Goodbye balls. Goodbye future children he'll never have.

"You got something on your shirt."

"Wha-?" Jean looked down to see what she was talking about, but the blonde was...suddenly... _there?_

And she angled her face up to press her lips against his.

Startled, Jean's eyes went wide but they closed just as quickly and he kissed her back. It was brief and sweet, and sent butterflies fluttering around in his stomach. He opened his eyes slowly as his lips parted from hers, just in time to see Annie sink back down to the heels of her feet. And that's when it hit him. She had leaned up on her tiptoes when they kissed. Because she was _so short._

Holy crap. That was so cute _holy crap_ -

Her lips curved into a small, timid smile.

Correction: _that_ was the most _adorable thing_ he's _ever_ -

"Annie..." he couldn't fight the stupid smile that was now spreading across his face. "What was...?"

"I considered punching you," she said quietly, the lightest of blushes staining her pale cheeks. "And I did. Just not with my fist."

He couldn't help himself. He took her face in his hands and kissed her again, and she wrapped her arms around his back, returning his affection. Jean honestly didn't expect this to turn out in his favor, but he didn't question it. He wasn't complaining. When they parted again the two smiled softly at each other, and Annie's gaze flickered downcast as she pushed her arms through the sleeves of his jacket. It was big on her, the sleeves covering up more than half of her hands, but she looked better in it than he did.

She spotted something behind him, but from the way her face fell, he had a pretty good idea why the mood was dampened.

"I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Y-Yeah. Okay."

A strong look of determination flashed in those light blue eyes of her and she closed the space between them again, leaning up on her tiptoes. This time it was _she_ who cupped his face and kissed him, and his hands fell around her waist.

"I gotta go," she whispered against his lips.

"'Kay. Text me."

"Okay."

"Keep the jacket."

He didn't give her time to react because he was already making a brisk walk for the driveway, cheeks flaming.

And he could not stop smiling on the way home.


End file.
